Canada off to quick start in Sochi medal race with McMorris snowboard bronze

SOCHI, Russia – Mark McMorris got Canada off to a quick start at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday.

The Regina snowboarder reached the podium in the first medal event of the Games, taking bronze in the men’s slopestyle.

McMorris was expected to win a medal in the event, but his route to the bronze was hardly textbook.

He broke a rib just a few weeks before the start of the Games, then overcame a difficult qualifying run and a fall in his first run of the final.

He performed when it counted though, turning in a strong second run at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park to finish third with 88.75 points.

“I would have loved to be in the gold medal position but with what I’ve been through in the last two weeks, just standing on the podium in general feels like a gold medal to me,” said McMorris.

American Sage Kotsenburg won gold with a score of 93.50. Norway’s Staale Sandbech took the silver with a 91.75.

Maxence Parrot of Bromont, Que., finished fifth and Montreal’s Sebastien Toutant finished ninth.

Parrot, who was first in qualifying, had the last run of the final, but didn’t put up a good enough run to break into the medals.

McMorris’s medal gives Canada quick start in Sochi, but more results will have to come early to alleviate the intense pressure on the Olympic team.

Some projections have Canada winning more medals here than four years ago. Canada set a record with 14 gold medals in Vancouver, adding seven silver and five bronze.

Canada earned a medal on the first day of the Vancouver Games as well, with Jenn Heil taking silver in women’s moguls.

In other Canadian results, Emily Nishikawa of Whitehorse was the top Canadian in the women’s cross-country 7.5-kilometre skiathlon, finishing 42nd.

Also on Saturday, skiing sisters Maxime, Chloe and Justine Dufour-Lapointe competed in the women’s moguls final, Canada’s women’s hockey team took on Switzerland and the team figure skating event continued. Canada entered Saturday’s action in the team skating in second place, two points behind Russia.